About 6 months ago I sent a letter to a publisher, and they then asked me to send them a full manuscript. It was an open call at the time. About 14 weeks later, I sent them a reminder letter (they said it would take about 12 weeks) just making sure it got there. I then sent them another letter about a month ago which was another reminder letter, which also said I'd recently finished book 2 of the trilogy ... blah blah blah ... I still haven't recieved a reply from any of these. I've got a literary agent currently interested in the styory and they're reading it at the mo. But does anyone have any suggestions what I should do?
First off, you don't send a full manuscript to anyone. Did you check these people out on Preditors and Editors, Writers' Market, or any other information site on publishers? Publishers usually ask for the first few chapters of your novel, not the whole thing. So, I have a feeling there's something fishy going on. What's the name of this publishing company?
It sounds odd to me, too. Most publishers will only accept submissions from agents, particularly in the US, and the Irish/UK publishers that you may submit direct to want either a query or a few chapters according to their submission guidelines. I would be concerned about letting a whole ms go at the first instance without being very confident of the motives of the recipient.
Potters Pimp, Many publishing houses are far slower at turn around than their guidelines indicate. There are legitimate publishers that accept full manuscripts in their slush pile, without agent representation...for example DAW and Baen Books, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Most others that do accept slush request a synopsis and first three chapters. Honestly, my suggestions really depend on the publisher you submitted to. Terry
sounds a bit 'off' to me... give me the name of the publisher and the agent, and i'll tell you if they're legit, or not... if you don't want to 'go public' with the names, you can email me... love and hugs, maia
I actually just got the rejection yesterday. It was Random House Australia, so I knew there was nothing fishy about it. Sorry for taking so long to reply.
